Wire-straighteners



Jan. 12, 1960 p. E. ANDERSOQ ETAL 2,920,677

WIRE-STRAIGHTENERS Filed April 5. 1955 M r g M 2 F 4 0 WM .W 2m; V, 5

United States Patent O Naperville, 11]., asignorsto Western Electric Company, llzrokrporated, New 'York,'N.Y., a corporation of New Application April 5, 1955, Serial No. 499,318

1 Claim. (Cl. 153-93) This invention relates to wire-straighteners, and more particularly to wire-straighteners having quickly replaceable forming elements.

An object of the invention is to provide new and improved wire-straighteners provided with quickly replaceable forming elements.

.1 Another object of the invention is to provide new and improved wire-straighteners of the spinning type having positively held, quickly replaceable forming elements.

A further object of the invention is to provide wirestnaighteners having removable cartridges carrying quickly removable cams fastened rigidly to the cartridges.

A wire-straightener illustrating certain features of the invention may include a plurality of rotatable wirestraightening heads, in which a plurality of discs offset from one another are locked to form wire-straightening elements.

A complete understanding of the invention may be had from the following detailed description of a wirestraightener forming a specific embodiment thereof, when read in conjunction with the appended drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a fragmentary, vertical section of a Wirestraightener forming one embodiment of the invention, and

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary, vertical section taken along line 22 of Fig. 1.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, there is shown therein a machine for straightening wires 11 and for pushing the wires therethrough at a rate of speed uniform for all the wires. The wires 11 are advanced to the right, as viewed in Fig. 1, into wire-straightening units 16 and 17. The wire-straightening units 16 are identical with one another and with the wire-straightening units 17, the units 16 being positioned above worm gears 18 and 19, and the units 17 being positioned below the worm gears 18 and 19 and between adjacent ones of the units 16. Each of the units 17 includes a tube 21 mounted in bearings 22 and rotated in one direction by the worm gear 18, and also includes a tube 25 mounted in bearings 26 supported by a housing 23 and driven by the worm gear 19 in a. direction opposite to that of the tube 21. Each of the bearings 22 and 26 is a thrust bearing and is mounted in the housing 23 by split rings 31.

Cartridges 32 each include holders 33 and 34 joined together by a freely rotatable connecting sleeve 35, and each cartridge is detachably keyed to the tubes 21 and 25 by leaf springs 41 and 43 fitting into holes 42 and 44 formed in the tubes 21 and 25. The springs 41 and 43 are secured by screws 46 at one end of the holders 33 and 34 in slots 49 in the holders, and a shoulder 50 on the spring 43 locks the holders against movement to the right, as viewed in Fig. 1, by the wire. A tab portion 51 of the spring 43 may be pressed to release the holders for longitudinal movement. The holders 33 and 34 are provided with slots 55 and 56, respectively, open at the sides of the holders, for receiving wire-straightening washer-like plates or discs 57 of cemented carbide,

Patented Jan. 12, 1960 centered therein. The holder 33 supports an entrance guide bushing 64 "at one end thereof and has a hardened guide plate 65 at the other end thereof bearing against a hardened guide plate 66 secured to the holder 34, which supports an exit bushing 67 extending to a tubular knob 68. 7

Each cam disc 57 has its axial bore 58 and is supported on an eccentric portion 71 of a pin 72 having a slotted head 73 and an axial shank 74 fitting snugly into bores 75 in the holders 33 and 34, The bores 75 are predeterminedly offset from one another so that each disc may be individually adjusted toward or away from the axis of the holders 33 and 34 by a screwdriver inserted into the slot in the slotted head 73 and turned. Thus, the tortuousness of the path formed by the discs 57 may be adjusted. The pins 72 may be used to adjust the discs 57 toward and away from the centerline of the holders 33 and 34 and also to adjust the discs along such axes. Each disc 57 has a flat 77 formed thereon to provide clearance from the sleeves 21 and 25 as the holders 33 and 34 are slid into the sleeves and also prevent rotation of the disc, the radius of the discs being greater than the maximum possible distance from the axes of the eccentric portions 71 to the peripheries of the holders 33 and 34. The pins 72 are held by friction against turning in the bores 75 but may be easily driven from the bores 75 to replace the discs 57 when worn.

Operation The wires 11 are pushed continuously through the wire-straightening units 16 and 17. As each wire 11 travels through one of the wire-straightening units 16 and 17, the discs 57 form a predeterminedly tortuous path therebetween and are rapidly rotated in one direction around the wire so that they spin the wires to substantially straighten the wires. Each wire travels from the holder 33, which is revolved in one direction, and through the holder 34, which is revolved in the opposite direction at a substantially higher rate of speed than that at which the holder 33 is revolved. The discs 57 in the holder 34 spin the wire in the opposite direction to complete the straightening thereof. The wires come out of the wirestraightening units 16 and 17 completely straight'and at the same rate of speed. The'configuration of the path formed by the discs 57 in the holder 33 is more greatly tortuous than that formed by the discs 57 in the holder 34 so that the wire is initially straightened more roughly and then is very precisely straightened as it travels through the holder 34.

Each of the cartridges 32 may be pulled to the right, as viewed in Fig. l, to pull the cartridge completely out of the sleeves 21 and 25 so that the discs 57 may be inspected and adjusted or replaced if worn. The cartridges also may be strung up with the wires very easily when removed. The springs 41 and 43 key the holders 33 and 34 to the tubes 21 and 25, and hold the holders '33 and 34 against longitudinal movement relative to the tubes.

The above-described apparatus is simple, compact and inexpensive in construction and maintenance. The ap paratus is easily strung up, is easily adapted to wires of different sizes and types, and the discs 57 may be easily adjusted and replaced.

Certain features of the above-described wire-straightener are disclosed and claimed in copending application Serial No. 357, 194 filed May 25, 1953, by C. Paulson for Wire-Straighteners, Now U. S. Patent 2,791,243.

If desired, rollers, grooved or ungrooved, may be substituted for the cams 57 and may be mounted rotatably on the eccentric portions 71.

the principles of this invention.

It is to beunderstood that the above-described arrangements are simply illustrative of the application of Numerous other atrangements may be readily devised by those skilled in the artwhich will embody the principles of the inven tion and fall within the spirit and scope thereof.

What is claimed is:

A wire straightening device, comprising a frame, a first tubular member rotatably mounted in said frame, a second tubular member rotatably mounted in said frame in end-to-end relation with the first tubular membet, a first cylindrical member rotatably mounted in the first tubular member and having a transverse slot therein, a second cylindrical member rotatably mounted in the second tubular member in alignment with the first cylindrical member and having a transverse slot therein, said cylindrical members having transverse bores perpendicul'ar to transverse slots therein and spaced a predetermined distance from the edge of the slots, a guide plate having a pair of oppositely extending flanges encompassing the ends of the cylindrical members for maintaining said members in alignment, a plurality of discs mounted within the slots of the first and second cylindrical members in staggered relationship for engaging opposite sides of a wire passing through the cylindrical member, said discs having apertures therein and relieved portions in engagement with the inner surface of the tubular member for preventing rotation of the discs, a plurality of pins rotatably mounted in the bores and having eccentric portions positioned in the apertures in said discs and within the slots of the cylindrical member, and means for simultaneously rotating the first and second cylindrical members in opposite directions and at different speeds so that one rotates at a rate that is'substantially higher than the other.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Paulson May 7, 1957 

